


Yes, Cecil, There is a Santa Claus

by MrTulkinghorn



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Holidays, Horror, Interns & Internships, Night Vale, Radio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-29
Packaged: 2018-01-02 23:25:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrTulkinghorn/pseuds/MrTulkinghorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of the "Christmas" episode. Cecil reports on the morning after the Tree Lighting Ceremony, the fate of Intern Amy, and answers a letter from a young girl who is not sure she believes in Santa Claus anymore.</p><p>This is not a full episode, but are the leftover ideas that did not quite fit into "Christmas."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yes, Cecil, There is a Santa Claus

Before the attack on the Christmas market last night, Intern Amy was able to bring back the _most wonderful gift_ for Station Management. It. Is. Perfect! Now, I can’t say what it is on the air, as Station Management is always listening and I do not want to spoil the surprise. But I just know they’re going to _love_ it.

 

I really think Intern Amy is going places; she’s so clever and observant! She wanted me to take all the credit for the gift, but I said no. No, good, solid work is always rewarded here at Night Vale Community Radio. I told her, “Amy, you march on over to Station Management’s office, you open that door, and you give them your gift yourself!”

 

I mean, I signed my name to the card. Of course.

 

And Intern Amy protested.

( _laughs_ )

 

Oh, how she protested! So humble! But I insisted. “It’s your wonderful idea, Amy!” I told her. “No, you can’t leave it outside, _silly_. The Things That Live in the Walls might steal it!”

 

And she cried as she turned to leave. I thought that was a little over the top. I mean, I’m only doing what’s fair.

 

Boy, I can’t even imagine what Station Management’s faces will be like when they get my gift. Literally!

 

Let’s get right to the news!

 

Mayor Pamela Winchell held a press conference this morning amidst the ruins of the Smiles and Toys Regulated Exchange Program. Stepping over the shattered remains of Santa’s Workshop, and several unspeakably mangled bodies, she is reported to have surveyed the damage with a steely gaze. She shook her head quietly and said, “Seriously?” before disappearing in a small, dark puff of smoke.

 

The City Council is currently deliberating the issue of clean-up in Town Square. At least one representative told the reporters in attendance that she though the wreckage added “character” to the town and that, despite the blood and piles of branches and leaves, the smoldering remnants were still very “Christmas-y.”

 

“It would be expensive to rebuild. Why not keep it the way it is? I mean, red and green are Christmas colors, aren’t they? We certainly have a lot of red!” he added.

 

Representatives from StrexCorp Synernists Inc. could not be reached for comment, or those representatives _could_ be reached for comment, but no one in attendance could clearly remember what they looked like or what they said. 

 

Listeners, here’s something _odd._ I have a letter, an honest to goodness _letter,_ sitting here on my desk. It is not often that we receive mail here at our little radio station. Sure, every few days, we find manila envelopes filled with bloodied, tear-stained letters from Intern Skyler, who disappeared last month. But these are not letters, so much as ramblings about cages and serrated blades, and a thin, smiling figure who watches her in her dreams.

 

I think it’s nice that Intern Skyler stays in touch, especially around the holiday season!

 

The envelope is small and yellowed, a little wrinkled, and the address in written in a child’s shaky penmanship. I am picking up the envelope. I am turning it around in my hands, feeling the weight of it. I run my finger along the flap and ( _the sound of paper tearing_ ) break the seal. I pull a small, poorly folded square of lined essay paper from the mangled remains of the envelope. I open the folded paper to its full size and read the missive that is so daintily, awkwardly printed here and…

 

( _a pause_ )

 

Ah! This letter is from Veronica. She writes:

 

>   
> _Dear Mr. Palmer,_ _I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you hear it on the radio, it’s so.”_ _Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?_

 

Veronica, your little friends are _wrong_! They don’t believe in things they cannot see, and that is just poor judgment! I mean, the universe is filled with things we cannot see, and some of those things are vengeful and angry. Some of those things are incomprehensible to our fragile human minds. Some of those things warp and corrupt all matter and all energy that experiences their awesome and terrible presence!

 

No, nobody ever sees Santa Claus, but what would it prove if they did? The most real things in the universe are those things we cannot see except as brief flickers in mirrors or sudden movements in our peripheral vision or dark spots that erupt and fizzle out before we can focus on them. But we can feel those presences, can’t we? Yes, Veronica, every chill, every skipped heartbeat, every random and violent thought are the presence of these unseen forces.

 

No Santa Claus? Thank all the gods that he lives, and lives forever! For we are only dust, and dust is inconsequential. But the immortal things that live beyond our sight and beyond the stars? Oh, Veronica, those things are real and honest and true. How dreary our world would be if these things did not exist! How safe and secure! It would be as dreary and as safe and secure as if there were no Veronicas!

 

You may tear apart the baby and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world not the most powerful hooded figure, nor even the united power of all the most powerful hooded figures could tear apart.

 

Veronica, take comfort in the fact that there are _many_ things in the universe that are so vast and so ancient that, to them, we are less than the meanest bacterium; Santa Claus is among these invisible forces! And your little friends, the heathens and nonbelievers, will suffer for their disbelief.

 

( _a pause_ )

 

Intern…Jimmy, was it? Yes! Intern Jimmy has just informed me that Station Management _loved_ my gift. A letter popped out from underneath their office door saying so! Well, not in any words, of course.  Mostly runes and arcane marks, but Intern Jimmy says that runes bode good will and approval, and I will take his word for it!

 

Intern Jimmy also notes that Intern Amy’s gift was left, slightly singed, outside the door, which is a shame as I thought it was a really well thought out present. To Intern Amy’s family: know that she is in a better place.

 

Well, I hate to make value judgments like “better.” She is in a place that is different from this place. And let us leave it at that.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome To Night Vale is a production of Commonplace Books. It is written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor and produced by Joseph Fink. The voice of Night Vale is Cecil Baldwin.  
> Check out commonplacebooks.com for more information on this show, as well as their books on The Unused Story Ideas of H.P. Lovecraft and What It Means To Be A Grown-Up, and while you’re there, consider clicking the donate link, that would be cool of you.
> 
> Cecil's response to Veronica is adapted from "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus."


End file.
